Location:
337 km via Fort Portal Road.
Air: 254.96 km (158.42 mi) North West of Kampala.
35.4 km from Amabere caves and off the Fort Portal Bundibugyo Road.
Air: 21.67 km (13.47 mi) North – North East (NNE) of Amabere Caves.
Coordinates: 0.8369911, 30.3414917
Established in 1926, Semliki Wildlife Reserve, formerly Toro Semliki Wildlife Reserve, is one of Uganda’s oldest wildlife reserves located in Ntoroko and Kabarole districts off the highway to Bundibugyo.
Semliki Wildlife Reserve has great views of the rift valley escarpment, the Rwenzori Mountains and Blue Mountains in the RDC Congo.
The landscape is a combination of rain forest, dry savannah grasslands, woodland and wetlands. Semliki Wildlife Reserve is known to host a unique chimpanzee population that have adopted to living in a dry habitat and are seen quite often walking their hind legs.
Other animals that can be seen include waterbucks, buffalo baboons, elephants, crocodiles, Uganda kobs, warthogs, pygmy hippos, hyenas, leopards and bush babies. Primates apart from chimpanzees in the park are: Red-tailed and Vervet, Black and white colobus monkeys, and baboons.
Activities in the park include game drives, guided chimpanzee walks and boat cruises.
The boat cruises on the Lake Albert delta give you a chance, with luck to see the extremely rare shoebill stork in the marshy shorelines.
Birding in Toro – Semliki Wildlife Reserve
Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve is a bird-watcher’s paradise, with more than 460 species recorded in a variety of habitats. Boat trips on Lake Albert provide a chance to see the shoebill and a breeding colony of the stunning Red-throated Bee-eater.
Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve has about 460 species documented in various habitats. From November to April, migratory birds are present like: Arrow-marked Babbler, Tropical Boubal, Black-headed Bushrike, Luhdrers Bushrike, Red-necked Falcon, Black-billed Barbet, Tropical Boubal, and Abyssinian Ground-hornbill.
Birds in Toro – Semliki Wildlife Reserve
- Crested Francolin Ortygornis sephaena
- Red-eyed Dove Streptopelia semitorquata
- Ring-necked Dove Streptopelia capicola
- Blue-spotted Wood-Dove Turtur afer
- Great Blue TuracoCorythaeola cristata
- Ross’s Turaco Tauraco rossae
- Black-billed Turaco Tauraco schuettii
- White-browed Coucal Centropus superciliosus
- African Palm Swift Cypsiurus parvus
- White-spotted Flufftail Sarothrura pulchra
- Black-headed Lapwing Vanellus tectus
- Senegal Lapwing Vanellus lugubris
- Hadada Ibis Bostrychia hagedash
- Palm-nut Vulture Gypohierax angolensis
- Lizard Buzzard Kaupifalco monogrammicus
- Common Buzzard Buteo buteo
- Speckled Mousebird Colius striatus
- Blue-naped Mousebird Urocolius macrourus
- Crowned Hornbill Lophoceros alboterminatus
- Black-and-white-casqued Hornbill Bycanistes subcylindricus
- White-throated Bee-eater Merops albicollis
- African Dwarf Kingfisher Ispidina lecontei
- Woodland Kingfisher Halcyon senegalensis
- Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird Pogoniulus chrysoconus
- Black-billed Barbet Lybius guifsobalito
- Brown-eared Woodpecker Pardipicus caroli
- Nubian Woodpecker Campethera nubica
- Chinspot Batis Batis molitor
- Black-headed Gonolek Laniarius erythrogaster
- Gray-green Bushshrike Chlorophoneus bocagei
- Sulphur-breasted Bushshrike Chlorophoneus sulfureopectus
- Flappet Lark Amirafra rufocinnamomea
- Western Nicator Nicator chloris
- Green-backed Camaroptera Camaroptera brachyura
- Tawny-flanked Prinia Prinia subflava
- Croaking Cisticola Cisticola natalensis
- Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica
- Slender-billed Greenbul Stelgidillas gracilirostris
- Red-tailed Bristlebill Bleda syndactylus
- Little Greenbul Eurillas virens
- Leaf-love Phyllastrephus scandens
- Common Bulbul Pycnonotus barbatus
- Green Hylia Hylia prasina
- Scaly-breasted Illadopsis Illadopsis albipectus
- Violet-backed Starling Cinnyricinclus leucogaster
- Northern Black-Flycatcher Melaenornis edolioides
- Snowy-crowned Robin-Chat Cossypha niveicapilla
- Whinchat Saxicola rubetra
- Sooty Chat Myrmecocichla nigra
- Collared Sunbird Hedydipna collaris
- Olive Sunbird Cyanomitra olivacea
- Scarlet-chested Sunbird Chalcomitra senegalensis
- Crimson-rumped Waxbill Estrilda rhodopyga
- Red-cheeked Cordonbleu Uraeginthus bengalus
- Yellow-throated Longclaw Macronyx croceus
- Brimstone Canary Crithagra sulphurata
- Western Crested Guineafowl Guttera verreauxi
- Black-bellied BustardLissotis melanogaster
- Eastern Plantain-eater Crinifer zonurus
- Red-chested Cuckoo Cuculus solitarius
- African Woolly-necked Stork Ciconia microscelis
- Marabou Stork Leptoptilos crumenifer
- African Harrier-Hawk Polyboroides typus
- White-headed Vulture Trigonoceps occipitalis
- White-backed Vulture Gyps africanus
- Bateleur Terathopius ecaudatus
- Tawny Eagle Aquila rapax
- Green Woodhoopoe Phoeniculus purpureus
- Blue-cheeked Bee-eater Merops persicus
- Double-toothed Barbet Pogonornis bidentatus
- Honeyguide Greenbul Baeopogon indicator
- Northern Gray-headed Sparrow Passer griseus
- Tambourine Dove Turtur tympanistria
- Red-necked Spurfowl Pternistis afer
- Rameron Pigeon Columba arquatrix
- Western Bronze-naped Pigeon Columba iriditorques
- Congo Pied Hornbill Lophoceros fasciatus
- Eastern Dwarf Hornbill Horizocerus granti
- Black-casqued Hornbill Ceratogymna atrata
- Gray-headed Kingfisher Halcyon leucocephala
- Striped Kingfisher Halcyon chelicuti
- Broad-billed Roller Eurystomus glaucurus
- Red-rumped Tinkerbird Pogoniulus atroflavus
- African Gray Woodpecker Dendropicos goertae
- African Broadbill Smithornis capensis
- Northern Puffback Dryoscopus gambensis
- Black-headed Paradise-Flycatcher Terpsiphone rufiventer
- African Blue Flycatcher Elminia longicauda
- Northern Crombec Sylvietta brachyura
- Yellow-browed Camaroptera Camaroptera superciliaris
- Red-faced Cisticola Cisticola erythrops
- Carruthers’s Cisticola Cisticola carruthersi
- Zitting Cisticola Cisticola juncidis
- White-headed Sawwing Psalidoprocne albiceps
- Red-tailed Greenbul Criniger calurus
- Yellow-whiskered Greenbul Eurillas latirostris
- Plain Greenbul Eurillas curvirostris
- Xavier’s Greenbul Phyllastrephus xavieri
- Black-lored Babbler Turdoides sharpei
- Splendid Starling Lamprotornis splendidus
- Rufous Flycatcher-Thrush Stizorhina fraseri
- African Thrush Turdus pelios
- Swamp Flycatcher Muscicapa aquatica
- Olive-bellied Sunbird Cinnyris chloropygius
- Grant’s Bluebill Spermophaga poliogenys
- African Firefinch Lagonosticta rubricata
- African Pied Wagtail Motacilla aguimp
- Plain-backed Pipit Anthus leucophrys
- Blue Malkoha Ceuthmochares aereus
- Klaas’s Cuckoo Chrysococcyx klaas
- Swamp Nightjar Caprimulgus natalensis
- White-rumped Swift Apus caffer
- African Wood-Owl Strix woodfordii
- Narina Trogon Apaloderma narina
- European Bee-eater Merops apiaster
- Shining-blue Kingfisher Alcedo quadribrachys
- Blue-breasted Kingfisher Halcyon malimbica
- Eastern Yellow-billed Barbet Trachylaemus purpuratus
- Black-and-white Shrike-flycatcher Bias musicus
- African Paradise-Flycatcher Terpsiphone viridis
- Whistling Cisticola Cisticola lateralis
- Lesser Striped Swallow Cecropis abyssinica
- White-tailed Ant-Thrush Neocossyphus poensis
- Pale Flycatcher Agricola pallidus
- Bronze Mannikin Spermestes cucullata
- Gray-headed Nigrita Nigrita canicapillus
- Black Cuckoo Cuculus clamosus
- African Gray Hornbill Lophoceros nasutus
- Lesser Honeyguide Indicator minor
- Western Black-headed Batis Batis erlangeri
- Moustached Grass-Warbler Melocichla mentalis
- Yellow Longbill Macrosphenus flavicans
- Brown Illadopsis Illadopsis fulvescens
- Blue-shouldered Robin-Chat Cossypha cyanocampter
- Pied Cuckoo Clamator jacobinus
- Hamerkop Scopus umbretta
- African Cuckoo-Hawk Aviceda cuculoides
- Western Banded Snake-Eagle Circaetus cinerascens
- Scaly-throated Honeyguide Indicator variegatus
- Black Cuckooshrike Campephaga flava
- Buff-bellied Warbler Phyllolais pulchella
- Purple-banded Sunbird Cinnyris bifasciatus
- Northern Brown-throated Weaver Ploceus castanops
- Pin-tailed Whydah Vidua macroura
- Wire-tailed SwallowHirundo smithii
- Rüppell’s Starling Lamprotornis purpuroptera
- Little Weaver Ploceus luteolus
- Wattled Lapwing Vanellus senegallus
- Brown-throated Wattle-eye Platysteira cyanea
- Gray-winged Robin-Chat Sheppardia polioptera
- Red-headed Weaver Anaplectes rubriceps
- Village Weaver Ploceus cucullatus
- Northern Red Bishop Euplectes franciscanus
- Black-winged Bishop Euplectes hordeaceus
- Common Quail Coturnix coturnix
- African Green-Pigeon Treron calvus
- Rufous-chested Swallow Cecropis semirufa
- Gray Tit-Flycatcher Fraseria plumbea
- Fawn-breasted Waxbill Estrilda paludicola
- Helmeted Guineafowl Numida meleagris
- Pennant-winged Nightjar Caprimulgus vexillarius
- Eurasian Hoopoe Upupa epops
- Cardinal Quelea Quelea cardinalis
- Mountain Wagtail Motacilla clara
- Brown-backed Woodpecker Dendropicos obsoletus
- Fork-tailed Drongo Dicrurus adsimilis
- Rattling Cisticola Cisticola chiniana
- White-breasted Nigrita Nigrita fusconotus
- Gray Kestrel Falco ardosiaceus
- White-shouldered Black-Tit Melaniparus guineensis
- Heuglin’s Spurfowl Pternistis icterorhynchus
- Black-crowned Tchagra Tchagra senegalus
- Yellow-bellied Hyliota Hyliota flavigaster
- Green-headed Sunbird Cyanomitra verticalis
- Compact Weaver Pachyphantes superciliosus
- Black-bellied Firefinch Lagonosticta rara
- Yellow-fronted Canary Crithagra mozambica
- Cabanis’s Bunting Emberiza cabanisi
- Scaly Spurfowl Pternistis squamatus
- African Emerald Cuckoo Chrysococcyx cupreus
- Square-tailed Nightjar Caprimulgus fossii
- Brown Snake-Eagle Circaetus cinereus
- African Pygmy Kingfisher Ispidina picta
- Cardinal Woodpecker Dendropicos fuscescens
- Red-shouldered Cuckooshrike Campephaga phoenicea
- Little Green Sunbird Anthreptes seimundi
- Laughing Dove Spilopelia senegalensis
- Piapiac Ptilostomus afer
- Yellow-billed Oxpecker Buphagus africanus
- Dideric Cuckoo Chrysococcyx caprius
- Greater Blue-eared Starling Lamprotornis chalybaeus
- Black-bellied Seedcracker Pyrenestes ostrinus
- Red-billed Firefinch Lagonosticta senegala
- Little Swift Apus affinis
- Brown Babbler Turdoides plebejus
- Green-throated SunbirdChalcomitra rubescens
- Orange-cheeked Waxbill Estrilda melpoda
- African Grass-Owl Tyto capensis
- Hairy-breasted Barbet Tricholaema hirsuta
- Red-headed Quelea Quelea erythrops
- Southern Red Bishop Euplectes orix
- Dusky Long-tailed Cuckoo Cercococcyx mechowi
- Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax
- Blue Quail Synoicus adansonii
- Levaillant’s Cuckoo Clamator levaillantii
- Fiery-necked Nightjar Caprimulgus pectoralis
- Northern Fiscal Lanius humeralis
- Sedge Warbler Acrocephalus schoenobaenus
- Common Waxbill Estrilda astrild
- Bank Swallow Riparia riparia
- Striated Heron Butorides striata
- Beaudouin’s Snake-Eagle Circaetus beaudouini
- Fan-tailed Widowbird Euplectes axillaris
- White-faced Whistling-Duck Dendrocygna viduata
- African Crake Crecopsis egregia
- Buff-spotted Flufftail Sarothrura elegans
- Black-headed Heron Ardea melanocephala
- Lappet-faced Vulture Torgos tracheliotos
- Crowned Eagle Stephanoaetus coronatus
- Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird Pogoniulus bilineatus
- White-crested Helmetshrike Prionops plumatus
- Tropical Boubou Laniarius major
- Purple-headed Starling Hylopsar purpureiceps
- Red-billed Quelea Quelea quelea
- Marsh Tchagra Bocagia minuta
- Yellow-throated Nicator Nicator vireo
- Purple Starling Lamprotornis purpureus
- Eurasian Hobby Falco subbuteo
- Black Kite Milvus migrans
- Rufous-tailed Scrub-Robin Cercotrichas galactotes
- Black-and-white Mannikin Spermestes bicolor
- Mackinnon’s Shrike Lanius mackinnoni
- Willow Warbler Phylloscopus trochilus
- Alpine Swift Tachymarptis melba
- Western Cattle-Egret Ardea ibis
- Mosque Swallow Cecropis senegalensis
- African Goshawk Aerospiza tachiro
- Spotted Flycatcher Muscicapa striata
- Western Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava
- Pink-backed Pelican Pelecanus rufescens
- Plain Martin Riparia paludicola
- Red-capped Robin-Chat Cossypha natalensis
- Vieillot’s Black Weaver Ploceus nigerrimus
- Mourning Collared-Dove Streptopelia decipiens
- Eurasian Golden Oriole Oriolus oriolus
- Grasshopper Buzzard Butastur rufipennis
- Spotted Eagle-Owl Bubo africanus
- Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl Ketupa lactea
- Abyssinian Ground-Hornbill Bucorvus abyssinicus
- White-headed Barbet Lybius leucocephalus
- Green Crombec Sylvietta virens
- Saddle-billed Stork Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis
- Standard-winged Nightjar Caprimulgus longipennis
- Brown-crowned Tchagra Tchagra australis
- African Pipit Anthus cinnamomeus
- African Shrike-flycatcher Megabyas flammulatus
- Black-chested Snake-Eagle Circaetus pectoralis
- Lesser Masked-Weaver Ploceus intermedius
- Yellow-throated Cuckoo Chrysococcyx flavigularis
- African Scops-Owl Otus senegalensis
- Red-billed Dwarf Hornbill Lophoceros camurus
- Willcocks’s Honeyguide Indicator willcocksi
- Swamp Greenbul Thescelocichla leucopleura
- Icterine Greenbul Phyllastrephus icterinus
- Red-tailed Ant-Thrush Neocossyphus rufus
- Yellow-breasted Forest Robin Stiphrornis mabirae
- Brown-chested Lapwing Vanellus superciliosus
- Black-winged Kite Elanus caeruleus